Pa9e 4 perspectives
Being older student no free ride but worth it
By Mary A. Kempkes
The youth culture pervades a college
campus. But while the majority of students
are between 18 and 24, the older student is
making a comeback despite multiple prob
lems, according to UNL students and
career counselors.
More older students are returning to
university campuses, said Molly Cunning
ham, adult career counselor with the
Dividision of Continuing Studies, partly be
cause of renewed efforts to recruit them
but also because their presence is more
accepted among peers in the work force.
"The advent of the nontraditional stu
dent ... is a fairly recent phenomena," she
said.
Cunningham said when she returned to
school 18 years ago, "People thought I had
holes in my head ... so I can understand
what they're going through."
Most older students Cunningham
counsels are coming back to renew skills
and finish degrees that a family and respon
sibilities forced out of the picture. Also,
the economy and divorces have sent wo
men back to school for financial reasons,
she said.
Figures from the Department of Labor
predict an increase in the job market of 70
percent among women ages 25 to 54.
Cunningham said women are returning
to college and the business world also be
cause baby-boom children are growing up
and because of a changing perception of
what women can do.
Secretary, teacher or mommie
"When Martha graduated from lugli
school," she said, "they told you you
could be a secretary, a teacher or a
mommie."
Martha Crawford, 36, will return to
school next fall. In the process of getting a
divorce, Crawford said she came back to
school for two reasons: one financial.
"The other is just a very long old desire
to be the things I want to be," she said.
Crawford said she is excited about going
to school but it feels, "absolutely bananas.
This is the first time I've give myself per
mission to do this."
After years of supressing desires for a
career because of families, Cunningham
said older women are reluctant to indulge
in school.
"Most returning students haven't given
themselves permission, didn't see this as a
real option," she said.
Ken Merlin, 44, is an MBA candidate
who returned to school after receiving his
bachelors in journalism in 1 97 1 .
Like many older students. Merlin is
doing it alone the second time around.
Recently divorced, he said one of the
biggest problems he's had is adjusting to
the new lifestyle.
His life and routine were stable a few
years ago, he said, but now lie's trying to
adjust to dorm and single life. Merlin lives
in Selleck Hall and sometimes finds it diffi
cult keeping up with his younger counter
parts. Late hours, adjustments are difficult
"I can't believe students stay up so
late," he said. "I didn't remember the work
was so hard."
Also, adjusting to study has not been
easy, he said.
"I wish I had made the adjustment," he
said. "I haven't made it yet."
"I don't think I've gotten into focusing
on my studies and I'm not sure I'll be able
to. As an older student, it's very difficult
to study. You've got other responsibilities
and commitments."
The hours are long, he said, and "having
to concentrate-sitting and concentrating
is tough. I'm used to being more active
than that."
Merlin and Crawford agreed that money
is a big obstacle for the returning student.
Merlin said he doesn't have the time or
money to follow his younger dormmates to
the bars.
Scheduling problems plague older
women- "Getting the four kids in the
right spot and me in the right spot -figuring
out everybody's schedule." Crawford
said.
From classes to cooking
And older students "wear many hats,"
Cunningham said, and have responsibilities
other than studies.
"While a student in the residence hall
has things taken care of for him," she said,
"Marta will have to go home and plan the
meals."
Until a few years ago, the university
lacked support systems for the older stu
dents -both emotional and financial.
Other problems, often more imagined
than real, intimidate older students,
Cunningham said.
"It's a real risk coming in and trying
something new with most returning stu
dents," she said. "Most adults are scared.
It's pretty scary picking up a new lifestyle."
"The fears have gone through my head a
jillion times," Crawford said, "but the
positive (aspects) outweigh the bad."
Fears - real and imagined
Cunningham said older students fear:
-Rejection and competition with
younger students.
"Coming into the classroom and seeing
nothing but 18-year-old faces is scary," she
said. People think "that I'm gonna be the
only old lady in the class."
Merlin said it's difficult competing with
18- and 20-year-olds. "They've got better
study habits," he said. Merlin said he felt
apprehensive about returning.
"Could I compete, could I do the course
work? I found that I could," he said.
-Discrimination because of age.
It's not as easy for older students to join
traditional college groups like sports teams
or fraternities.
"As younger student can try out for the
team. Older students can't," Merlin said.
Merlin said he fears discrimination when
he looks for a job.
"When you're over 32 and just entering
into the corporate world, you're in
trouble."
- Faculty will not understand the prob
lems of an older student. Cunningham said
some instructors are inflexible but most are
sympathetic to the 45-year-old student
who hasn't written a term paper in 15
years.
-That Fin too-old-to-learn syndrome.
"Tommyrot," Cunningham said. "My
feeling is that anybody that's too old to
learn is probably dead."
Traveling career nice but not really glamorous
By Joni Kramer
When entering the career world, a job that involves
travel appeals to you. However, Lincoln "jet-setters" say
travel-oriented jobs aren't for everybody and aren't always
what they're cracked up to be.
Travel can have a major role in a job, but according to
Conrad Parde, branch manager and vice president of FF
Hutton in Lincoln, travel doesn't have a large effect on his
job.
"I don't travel a whole lot, and when I do, a lot of it's
for educational reasons. We attend classes to help us to
understand different products we are working with, such
as options, insurance, and oil and gas," Parde said.
Most stock brokers spend their time on the phone, said
Parde, but like to visit their clients occassionally .
"Part of a broker's travel is client-geared. Fven though
a client can be anywhere, ours are primarily in Nebraska,
and less than a 30-minute drive away," Parde said. "It's
better to visit and sit down with a client. This makes for a
more personal relationship between broker and client."
Travel gives broad perspective
Besides bringing a person closer to their customer-,
travel can help a person to get a broader perspective on his
job, said Dennis Butt, plant manager of Kawasaki in
Lincoln.
"First of all, our company has facilities all over the
United States and it's an advantage that I get to see the
people I work with," Butt said. "Secondly, if you travel
around the U.S. things become clearer to you in day-today
situations."
But; navels a couple times a month to California where
he attends meetings of the company's executive com
mittee, to the Minnesota research center, the Last coast
and twice a year to Japan to visit the parent company.
People look at "jet-setters" like himself with some envy,
he said.
"I stay in nice motels, meet a lot of nice people, eat
good food, and see the country. It's fun. You're aware of
the fact that people look up to you and envy the people
who travel a lot," Butt said.
Recruiters hit the road
During the football recruiting season, which runs from
December through February, UNL Assistant Coach John
Melton said he's on the road four to five days every week.
"All the assistant coaches have an area of the country
to cover. Mine is the Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa
area," he said.
In the football playing season, recruiters go to high
schools within a one hundred mile area on Friday nights
to see games, but have to return by Saturday for the
Nebraska games.
Melton said he looks at travel as an ordinary part of his
job.
"You know what you're getting into when you take a
recruiting job," Melton said. "You just get used to being
on the road a lot."
Even though he's on the road a major portion of his
time. Melton said he never gets time for leisure activities
when traveling.
In the travel agent business, travel may not be as often
as many people tliink, said Bob Lesec, manager of retail
sales at Lincoln Tour and Travel.
"Our major type of travel involves familiarization trips,
to help employees become familiar with different airlines,
motels and resorts so they can sell to the customers,"
Lesec said.
Less fun, more work
Fmployees on these trips inspect hotels and go on sight
seeing trips. However, Lesec said the trips are more work
than pleasure.
"These trips help us to please our customers by setting
up their trips with good accommodations. It's rewarding
to have a customer thank you for a good time they have
on a trip you planned for them," he said.
Some agents travel to organizational meetings, like the
National Tour Brokers Association, Lesec said.
But as for the other travelers. Lesec said the trips are
more work than play and involve some personal sacrifices.
"I never spend a lot of time in one place," Melton said.
I sometimes have to visit three or four cities in one day.
There's not time for anything else. I get to the hotel in
time to sleep, then it's off again in the morning.
Melton said he enjoys traveling as a part of his job
except when the weather is bad.
"((things are going smooth, I enjoy travel. It can be
fun," he said. "But, with the region I cover the weather
can get bad and I may get snowed in."
Despite this envy. Butt said there is a not-so-glamorous
side to job travel.
Travel not all gbmour
He said he sees the inside of motels that aren't so
glamorous, doesn't eat regularly and waits a lot in line.
One aspect of travel that Butt and Melton agree on is
expensive costs.
Traveling is a great expense to the company since travel
costs have almost doubled in the last year. Butt said.
"Plane tickets are more, everything is more," Melton
said. "Even the price of a cup of coffee has increased. It's
a heck of a lot more expensive to travel now."
Despite the change of scenery a traveling job can offer,
it's always nice to come home. Butt said.
"My family understands the responsibilities of my job
and try to make it as easy as they can," Butt said. "I
enjoy the traveling. I always look forward to it, but it's
alv. ays good to get back home."
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